Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2 cats
Director: Carl Colby
Diane says: “CIA director William Colby’s son gets on the filial doc bandwagon. But there are drawbacks to a film intended to show the opacity of its subject. E.g., you feel like you’ve wasted your time. The only parts I
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Mark Hartley
Jason says: “I wonder where Mark Hartley’s next stop will be. Hong Kong? Thailand? Indonesia? After spotlighting the exploitation cinema of Australia in Not Quite Hollywood and the Philippine Islands in MACHETE MAIDENS UNLEASHED!, there must be other spots on
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.75
Director: Adam Mason
Starring: Andrew Howard | Ian Duncan | Matthew Rhys | Tess Panzer | Xander Berkeley
Jason says: “I’m not saying that it should be an ironclad rule that a movie by the name of LUSTER, with a sort of Jekyll-and Hyde theme, should go a little more heavy on the sex, but that would have
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Julian Gilbey
Starring: Alec Newman | Eamonn Walker | Ed Speleers | Garry Sweeney | Holly Boyd | Kate Magowan | Melissa George | Sean Harris
Jason says: “There is a certain joy to a move that takes the word ‘cliffhanger’ literally, as A LONELY PLACE TO DIE does in its very first scene. Director Julian Gilbey will go back to this well another time or
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Mike Ott
Starring: Atsuko Okatsuka | Cory Zacharia | Rintaro Sawamoto | Roberto 'Sanz' Sanchez
Jason says: “I wonder and worry a bit about how LITTLEROCK will play outside the festival circuit. It’s a wonderful little film, but it would be easy for a well-meaning distributor to drastically change the experience. Of course, I’m also
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Drake Doremus
Starring: AlexKingston | Anton Yelchin | Charlie Bewley | Felicity Jones | Jennifer Lawrence | Oliver Muirhead
Jason says: “First love can burn very bright but not be that complicated, and since that’s what LIKE CRAZY is about, it makes a bit of sense for it to have a certain shallowness about it as well. The question
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Massy Tadjedin
Starring: Anson Mount | Eva Mendes | Griffin Dunne | Guillaume Canet | Keira Knightley | Sam Worthington
Chris says: “This is a first feature for director Tadjedin and it’s an assured debut although there’s not that much to it. The relationship drama centers on striking Joanna Reed (Knightley), a writer working on her 2nd novel, and her
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.75
Director: Wai Keung Lau
Starring: Anthony Wong Chau-sang | Donnie Yen | Qi Shu | Shawn Yue | Yasuaki Kurata
Jason says: “LEGEND OF THE FIST: THE RETURN OF CHEN ZHEN starts off in a familiar way, with text explaining a bit of Chinese history, this time involving how Chinese laborers served in Europe during World War I. Most aren’t
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.75 cats
Director: Marius Holst
Starring: Benjamin Helstad | Kristoffer Joner | Morten Løvstad | Stellan Skarsgård | Trond Nilssen
Jason says: “KING OF DEVIL’S ISLAND opens with a whaling story, which it regularly returns to, but it isn’t immediately certain who the whale represents and who the whalers represent, even if the story is being told in the first
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Greg Araki
Starring: Chris Zylka | Haley Bennett | James Duval | Juno Temple | Roxane Mesquida | Thomas Dekker
Michael says: “Secret Societies. Gay sex. Psychic powers. Roxanne Mesquida. Straight sex. A surfer dude. Witchcraft. Sexual awakenings. Incest. Threesome. Thor. Masturbation. Voodoo dolls. Hallucinogenic drugs. Kelly Lynch. Possession. Prophetic dreams. Animal-masked men. A fabulous lesbian in a mint-green pantsuit.
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